A Vision of Worship
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Series Overview
Sermon Questions
Good morning Chapel family. It’s good to be back with you today. Last weekend Norma Jean and I had the joy of celebrating our 34th wedding anniversary, so I thank God for his faithfulness to us for all these years. And I just really appreciate my wife—she’s a one-of-a-kind woman, and I’m so blessed to have her in my life. And I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend as well.
If you went out on the streets and asked people, “What is worship?” what do you think they would say? I think a lot of people would talk about music in church, right? “I went to church and I worshiped God by singing.” Or they would talk about listening to worship music in their car or their AirPods. So lots of music and religion answers. Others would probably take it in more of a romantic direction: I worship the ground you walk on! Please be my prom date!
And all of those answers are accurate to some degree—those are all aspects of worship. But all of those answers fall short. Because they fail to capture just how central worship is to our lives. It’s not just something people do at church; it’s not just music; and it’s certainly not just romance. In fact, even if you never go to church, and you’re tone deaf, and even if there’s not an ounce of romance in your life right now, guess what? You still worship. And here’s why that’s so important: because whatever you worship reveals your heart, AND it shapes your heart more than anything else. Let me say that one more time: whatever you worship reveals your heart—so it shows what’s already there; and it shapes your heart—it forms you into the person you’re becoming. There is literally nothing more important in life than worship.
So…we’re going to spend the next three weeks talking about worship. This week we’ll talk about A Vision of Worship; next week we’ll talk about A Community of Worship—so what does this look like in a church setting, and the final week we’ll talk about A Life of Worship—how worship goes way beyond the walls of church. This is the first time I’ve ever preached a series on worship, and I am really looking forward to this.
Before we go any further, I want to propose a simple definition of worship that we’ll keep coming back to throughout the series. So here’s my definition: Worship is our whole-life response to whatever we value the most. Notice that’s not specifically religious or spiritual; it’s not romantic; it applies to everyone: Worship is our whole-life response to whatever we value the most.
So today we’re going to talk about A Vision of Worship. Look with me at Isaiah chapter six, beginning in verse 1. I invite you to hear the Word of God…
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” This is the Word of the Lord.
Remember the definition of worship? Worship is our whole-life response to whatever we value the most. So let’s break that definition into two parts, and see how Isaiah’s vision fleshes it out for us.
Point number one: We Worship What We Value Most. Our English word “worship” comes from the Old English, and it literally means “worth-ship.” In other words, when we worship something, we’re showing that we think that thing has a lot of worth. It’s worthy of our praise. Which is another way of saying we value that thing very highly. So back in the 8th century BC, there was a man named Isaiah the prophet. He obviously valued God to some degree, because he was a prophet. But apparently God needed to expand his understanding even larger.
So let’s talk about Isaiah’s vision of God’s value. Isaiah 6, verse 1: In the year that King Uzziah died… That year was around 740BC. King Uzziah had reigned as king of Judah for over 50 years, which was an unusually long reign. But toward the end of that reign, things started to get a little shaky. There was a powerful nation right next door called Assyria, and just like in early 2022 Vladimir Putin started amassing troops on the border of Ukraine and everybody knew what that meant, the Assyrians were making it clear that they were getting ready to invade Israel. Can you imagine how the people must have been feeling? Their long-time king was dead; their security was being threatened. It was a time of uncertainty and anxiety and fear. Can anybody relate to that?
And here’s what I have to tell you: when you’re in a time of uncertainty and anxiety and fear, what you need more than anything else is a bigger vision of God. And God knew that’s what the people of Judah needed. So he started with Isaiah the prophet. And in this vision, Isaiah sees three things.
First, he sees the glory of God. Some people think Isaiah was actually in the physical Jerusalem temple when he saw this vision; others believe God lifted him up to get a glimpse of heaven. But either way, he saw this vision of God that’s almost too amazing for words. The seraphim, which are a type of angel, are calling to one another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” That word glory is one of the most important words in the Bible. It’s the Hebrew word kavod. It literally means “heaviness” or “weightiness.”
We use the same concept in English. If I say, “That idea carries weight,” what does that mean? It means it’s important. We should pay attention to it. If I say, “That politician is a lightweight,” does that mean he only weighs 150 pounds? No; it means there’s not much to him. We don’t need to take him seriously. So in English, when we say something carries weight, it means that thing is important and significant and matters and is worthy of our attention. And the Bible says God is the most important, significant, worthy thing in the universe. Because he is a God of glory.
And most of the problems in our lives are caused when we assign too much glory to things that are not God.
Back in 2005 there was famous graduation speech given at a little college in Ohio called Kenyon College. Secular college. The speaker’s name was David Foster Wallace—he was an author and
university professor—not a Christian man, but a very intelligent man. The name of the speech was “This is Water.” And it went viral—you can watch it on YouTube. But I want read a little excerpt.
…here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship…is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly…
Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful, it's that they're unconscious. They are default settings.
He's right. We all worship! We don’t even know we’re doing it! But we are so hungry for something to worship, and we have a terrible habit of assigning glory—ultimate glory—to things that aren’t worthy of our worship: money, physical beauty, power, intelligence…the list is endless.
The people of Judah were tempted to worship their king, and now he was gone. They were tempted to worship national security and safety; now it was being threatened. So they were realizing that the things they thought carried the most weight actually didn’t. So in this vision, God showed them his glory. Can you see it? Ask God to show it to you.
Secondly, in this vision, Isaiah sees the holiness of God. In the Hebrew language, when you really wanted to emphasize something, you would say it twice—it was like taking a highlighter and highlighting it in yellow. But there are only a handful of places in all the Hebrew Scriptures where something is repeated not twice, but three times. The angels cry out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy.” It’s like making it boldface, italic, underlined, circled, and highlighted. God is holy, holy, holy. Which means he is utterly pure; utterly perfect; in a class all by himself.
Did you notice that these seraphim—these angelic beings—have six wings? So they use two of them to fly. What are they doing with the other four? Covering up! They’re covering their faces and their feet. Why? Because that’s how you respond in the face of holiness. You realize you’re in the presence of perfection, and you’re reminded of your own imperfection, so you instinctively cover up. Just like Adam and Even in the Garden, right? God’s coming—(cover up!).
But what about Isaiah? How does he respond to the holiness of God? Verse 5: “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” That word “ruined” comes from the Hebrew word for “to be silent.” So Isaiah the prophet—who speaks for a living!—is struck silent in the presence of a holy God.
You know, sometimes when we come into church, we think worship should always make us feel good. Right? Warm and fuzzy. But part of worship is being struck silent by the holiness of God. Being made aware of our sin in the light of God’s perfection. That’s worship! By the way, if you invent your own god—because some people say, “I like to think of God as just a positive loving energy”—if you invent your own god, that god will never fill you with awe because of his holiness. But the real God will.
So in this vision, Isaiah sees the glory of God, the holiness of God, and finally he sees the grace of God. Just when Isaiah is struck speechless by God’s holiness, look what happens next—verse 6: 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Does the angel say to Isaiah, “Isaiah! Stop being so hard on yourself! You’re not that bad! Nobody’s perfect! God accepts you just the way you are.” Is that what the angel says? No. Because Isaiah’s recognition of his own guilt was actually accurate.
So the angel, as God’s messenger, doesn’t water down the reality of Isaiah’s guilt; instead, he does something about it. He takes a live coal from the altar—what was the purpose of the altar in the Jewish temple? It was the place where blood sacrifice was made, and God accepted those sacrifices. He touches Isaiah’s lips with the coal, and he says, “Your sin is atoned for.” That word “atone” means to cover a debt. So Isaiah’s debt was real, but God says, “It is covered completely. Forgiven.”
So let me ask you a question: what did Isaiah contribute to his forgiveness? Absolutely nothing. He just received it as a gift. And that’s a perfect definition of grace. This is not “God helps those who help themselves.” No. This is realizing you’re powerless to help yourself, and that’s when the grace of God flies in and touches you.
So in this life-changing vision, Isaiah feels the weight of God’s glory; he’s silenced by God’s holiness; and he’s forgiven by God’s grace. And in all of that, God is showing Isaiah that only he is worthy of worship. See, we worship whatever we value the most. And when your king dies and your country is under attack, you better make sure you’re worshiping something worthy. When your boyfriend dumps you, and you get fired from your job, and the biopsy results come back malignant, you better make sure you’re worshiping something worthy. And only God is worthy. And that vision would stay with Isaiah, and it would shape Isaiah for the rest of his life.
But believe it or not, there was an even more awesome vision coming. Let’s talk about The ultimate vision of God’s value. About 700 years later, Jesus showed up. John 1:14 says it like this: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Think about that: when people encountered Jesus, they were seeing a vision of God! Just like Isaiah saw a vision of God, everyone who encountered Jesus saw God as he truly is. When they saw Jesus calming storms and conquering death, they saw a vision of God’s glory. When they saw Jesus resisting temptation and never sinning, they saw a vision of God’s holiness. And when they saw Jesus healing lepers and forgiving sin, they saw a vision of God’s grace. Like Jesus himself said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”
But wait a minute, Pastor Dave—you’re not saying that Isaiah’s vision of the Lord in his temple, which happened in 740BC (before Christ!) was a vision of Jesus! Are you? That’s exactly what I’m saying. And that’s exactly what the Bible says.
Look with me at John 12, starting in verse 39. This is amazing. 39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: (So now John, the Gospel writer, quotes from the prophet Isaiah…)
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”
That is a quote from Isaiah chapter six, just two verses after the passage we’re looking at today—it’s Isaiah 6:10. And then look what John says—John 12:41…41 Isaiah said this because he saw…what? Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. Did you hear that?: Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory? Think about this: when Isaiah saw that vision of the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne, that was a vision of Jesus!
In fact, many scholars, including myself (by the way, when I’ve said that in the past, my sweet wife has given me a hard time after church. She says, “What do you mean, ‘many scholars, including myself’? You’re not a scholar!” And I’d say, “What do you mean I’m not a scholar?” And she’d say, “To be a scholar, you have to at least have a doctoral degree!” Well guess what?). As I was saying…Many scholars, including myself, and in all seriousness including some specialized Hebrew scholars, believe that when Isaiah hears those words “Holy, holy, holy,” that’s a hint that our God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—all equally holy, and all equally God.
See, the ultimate vision of God’s value is not the vision Isaiah saw; it’s the vision all of us can see when we encounter the Jesus of the Gospels. And he’s not only the glorious Lord; Jesus is also the sacrifice from the altar that atones for our sin.
If you have been worshiping something that has disappointed you—like a king or a country or a girlfriend or a sports team—and you’re looking for something worthy of worship, you will find it in Jesus. He is the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the earth; he is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; he conquered death and he is alive. And your soul will be restless until you find your rest in him. Jesus is worthy of your worship.
And I know I’ve taken a lot of time on the first half of that definition, but that’s okay, because that lays the foundation for the whole series. So let’s take just a few minutes to talk about the other half. Remember our definition? Worship is our whole-life response to whatever we value the most. So we’ve talked about what’s most valuable…
…let’s close with this final point: We Worship with Our Whole Lives. Look with me at the book of Hebrews chapter 13, starting in verse 15. Hebrews 13:15-16 says this: 15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Here’s what this is saying: just like in the Old Testament, they worshiped God by bringing sacrifices to the temple, now there’s a new kind of sacrifice—a new way to worship God. And it mentions two ways: lips that openly profess his name, and doing good for others. In other words, we worship God with our words and with our actions. Let’s take those one at a time.
First, we worship With our words. “The fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” We saw that in Isaiah’s vision, right? What were the angels saying? “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord almighty!” I think it’s very likely they were singing those words. In the book of Revelation, it says the elders around the throne sang a new song, saying, “Worthy is the lamb who was slain.” There is something so powerful about singing praise to God, isn’t there? God has designed us to be moved by music, and when that music is accompanied by words of truth about God, it affects us like nothing else. Especially when we lift up our song with other people. Singing alone in your car or singing in the shower is fine, but there’s something important and good about singing in a gathered congregation.
C.S. Lewis wrote that when we praise something, we naturally want to invite other people to join us. It’s so true. I was at the gym once, riding a stationary bike. And they had ESPN on TV. Top 10 plays. And there was a guy on the bike next to me—never saw this guy in my life! And he was watching the Top 10 Plays. And there was this incredible baseball play—this outfielder climbed halfway up the wall and made an amazing catch. And the guy next to me went, “Whooah—ho-hoa!!” And I said, “Wow!”
And I looked over at him, and I said, “Unbelievable.” So we shared that moment together. It was very meaningful. But seriously, that’s a very human thing. Because when we’re impressed with something, something in us needs to express it and to share it. And the more amazing the object of our appreciation, the more we’re just bursting to let it out and to join with others in praising it! And that’s what we do at church! It’s not just, “Close your eyes and pretend it’s just you and Jesus.” I mean, that’s fine. But the reason we’re together is to share the joy and celebrate Christ as a community—and that brings a special kind of joy that you can never get when you’re alone. And we’ll talk about that much more next week.
So, we worship with our words…but it can’t stop there! We also worship With our actions. The very end of that Isaiah 6 passage is so important! Look at verse 8: 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Do you see the change that’s taken place in Isaiah? He started out, “Woe is me,” and now he says, “Send me!” Why the change? Because he has encountered the glory and the holiness and (really importantly) the grace of God. And he is so captivated by God, what else would you do but serve Him? Send me! Whatever you say, I’ll do it! Command me! I’m your servant. And that is also worship. When we walk out of church, worship doesn’t stop—because we worship God with our actions.
A few years ago there was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a woman named Linda Wilson-Allen. She drives a San Francisco city bus. She learns the names of the people who ride her bus. She waits for them if they’re late. At one of her stops, there was a woman in her 80s named Ivy who was struggling with some heavy grocery bags. Linda got out her bus to help Ivy carry her bags. Now, Ivy—the elderly woman—lets other buses pass her so she can ride on Linda’s bus. One time Linda saw a woman waiting at one of the stops who she’d never seen before. Her name was Tanya—she was a college student who’d just moved into town, and she was lost. It was almost Thanksgiving, so Linda said, “You’re out here all by yourself. Come over for Thanksgiving and kick it with me and the kids.” Now they’re friends. Linda has built such a little community on that bus that passengers offer her the use of their vacation homes. They bring her potted plants and flowers.
And the obvious question is: where does she get this attitude? The article said, “Her mood is set at 2:30 AM when she gets down on her knees to pray for 30 minutes.” They quoted Linda as saying, “There’s a lot to talk about with the Lord.” When she gets to the last stop, she always says, “That’s all. I love you. Take care.” Have you ever had a bus driver say, “I love you”? What a beautiful thing. You know why it’s so beautiful? Because all of that is an act of worship. She doesn’t worship her passengers! She doesn’t worship her bus! She worships God by the way she treats her passengers and drives her bus.
See, worship is our whole-life response to whatever we value the most. And when we’ve encountered the glory and the holiness and the grace of God, the only thing that makes sense is to worship him—not just with our words and song; with our entire lives. So…
When you walk out this door today, worship God.
When you walk out your front door tomorrow morning worship God.
When you log on to your remote job, worship God.
When you drive your Uber or see clients or stock shelves or whatever you do, do it all as an act of worship for our great God. Because he is worthy.
Let’s rise and close by singing worship.
